Ahh, nothing says Fall better than smoking some himalayan pink salt, garlic and fresh ghost peppers!
Its become a yearly tradition - friends and family start asking for refills around September. Nothing better than some of this smokey, garlicky, hot salt on eggs, beans and rice, noodles - the list goes on!
A few points -
I like to smoke the pink salt (larger crystals suitable for a salt grinder) at least 2 times during the summer. 3 times even better. Dry salt doesn't take much smoke the first time or two. I store it in airtight containers between smokes.
As far as the garlic, I have found that slicing the cloves before you smoke and dehydrate them makes them easier to grind into small pieces. If you leave them whole, the become hard rocks that are tough to breakdown (into smaller sizes, again suitable for a salt grinder
Wear gloves when preparing the ghost peppers for smoking. I just make a slit down the front of each pepper.
Wear gloves - and a mask - when working with the dried peppers and other ingredients when mixing together. This year I did it all outside. As you mix the smoked, dried salt, garlic and peppers - the dust is - like pepper spray!!!
As a side, it was not a good year here in the Northeast to grow Ghost Peppers. The couple that I purchase the plants from every year felt bad for me. So, they sent me (after I promised to send some Smoked Garlic Ghost Salt to them) and assorted batch late this year.
I smoked them, sealed them whole in vacuum bags and will see how they are next Fall.
Ok, some photos of this years batch:
​
Second time in the KBQ. You can see the salt is already getting darkened.
​
After a few hours, I put the Ghost Peppers on top. This is what they look like after another few hours
Nicely dry and smoked well!
​
The garlic went on with some of the salt. Again, smoked them all around 2 hours.
At this point, the salt went back into an airtight container and the Ghost Peppers and garlic into a dehydrator.
The peppers a perfect overnight, but the garlic takes ~2 days to get nice and dry. I put the peppers into the container with the salt.
After the garlic is dry, I crush them into smaller pieces with a grain mill that I used to use for homebrewing beer:
Then grind the peppers in the same grain mill.
Now, mix it all together and vacuum seal into individual refill bags for the salt grinder (top off on the right).
Ready to send to fans!
BTW, here are the peppers for next year (hopefully) A mix of regular, chocolate and yellow. Should be an interesting mix next year!
Post KBQ
Its become a yearly tradition - friends and family start asking for refills around September. Nothing better than some of this smokey, garlicky, hot salt on eggs, beans and rice, noodles - the list goes on!
A few points -
I like to smoke the pink salt (larger crystals suitable for a salt grinder) at least 2 times during the summer. 3 times even better. Dry salt doesn't take much smoke the first time or two. I store it in airtight containers between smokes.
As far as the garlic, I have found that slicing the cloves before you smoke and dehydrate them makes them easier to grind into small pieces. If you leave them whole, the become hard rocks that are tough to breakdown (into smaller sizes, again suitable for a salt grinder
Wear gloves when preparing the ghost peppers for smoking. I just make a slit down the front of each pepper.
Wear gloves - and a mask - when working with the dried peppers and other ingredients when mixing together. This year I did it all outside. As you mix the smoked, dried salt, garlic and peppers - the dust is - like pepper spray!!!
As a side, it was not a good year here in the Northeast to grow Ghost Peppers. The couple that I purchase the plants from every year felt bad for me. So, they sent me (after I promised to send some Smoked Garlic Ghost Salt to them) and assorted batch late this year.
I smoked them, sealed them whole in vacuum bags and will see how they are next Fall.
Ok, some photos of this years batch:
​
Second time in the KBQ. You can see the salt is already getting darkened.
​
After a few hours, I put the Ghost Peppers on top. This is what they look like after another few hours
Nicely dry and smoked well!
​
The garlic went on with some of the salt. Again, smoked them all around 2 hours.
At this point, the salt went back into an airtight container and the Ghost Peppers and garlic into a dehydrator.
The peppers a perfect overnight, but the garlic takes ~2 days to get nice and dry. I put the peppers into the container with the salt.
After the garlic is dry, I crush them into smaller pieces with a grain mill that I used to use for homebrewing beer:
Then grind the peppers in the same grain mill.
Now, mix it all together and vacuum seal into individual refill bags for the salt grinder (top off on the right).
Ready to send to fans!
BTW, here are the peppers for next year (hopefully) A mix of regular, chocolate and yellow. Should be an interesting mix next year!
Post KBQ
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